Jie ignored the Gedo Statue's attack completely. Instead, he looked up at the giant sphere of earth forming in the sky, his interest clearly elsewhere.
"Chibaku Tensei, huh? If I remember right, the moon was made by the Sage of Six Paths using this."
A casual thought crossed his mind. 'Maybe once I get the Rinnegan, I should make another moon for fun. Two bright moons hanging in the night sky... That would be pretty interesting.'
After thinking it over, he quickly gave up on the idea. Two moons would look strange. One was enough.
Once he obtained the Rinnegan, he could wipe out Hamura's descendants, destroy the moon along with them, then use Six Paths: Chibaku Tensei to make a brand-new one. From then on, whenever anyone in the shinobi world looked up, they would see Jie's masterpiece.
Just imagining it felt satisfying.
Itachi, however, was still struggling against the black sphere's pull. When he saw Jie suddenly stop moving, his face changed.
"Brother, watch out!"
The Gedo Statue's attack was already right in front of Jie, but he still had not moved. Itachi's first thought was that the black sphere had restricted him.
He gritted his teeth and looked up at it. 'It's because of that thing. If I destroy it, Brother should be able to move again.'
The Sharingan in Itachi's eyes began to spin. In the next instant, the triangular sickle pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan appeared.
Jie had warned him many times not to use the Mangekyō unless his life was truly in danger. But now Jie was in danger. That should count as an emergency, right?
Still, Itachi's shout was enough to pull Jie out of his wandering thoughts. When Jie saw the Mangekyō in Itachi's eyes, he could only smile helplessly.
After all the changes he had made, Itachi was excellent in every way. His only problem was that he cared too much about his elder brother.
Otherwise, he would not have awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan back then because of Jie's fake death.
All of this happened in a flash. Itachi had only just activated his Mangekyō and had not even decided how to deal with the black sphere before the Gedo Statue's attack arrived.
Boom!
The Gedo Statue slammed its massive hands together.
The impact exploded outward with a thunderous crash, sending a violent blast of wind sweeping from between its palms. Under Chibaku Tensei's pull, even the nearby rock layers were torn apart.
Itachi froze. He had clearly seen Jie get caught between the Gedo Statue's hands without dodging.
That single moment of shock was enough. His body lost its footing, and the pull from Chibaku Tensei dragged him toward the sky like a leaf in a storm.
Before he could be pulled away, a hand reached out from behind and grabbed him.
"Snap out of it. If you really get sealed by Chibaku Tensei, even I won't be able to save you."
Jie's helpless voice came from behind him.
"Brother?"
Itachi turned back and saw Jie standing there. A second later, he understood.
Before Itachi left the village, Jie had given him a kunai marked with the Flying Thunder God formula. Jie must have used Flying Thunder God to cross space instantly and appear behind him.
Jie smiled but did not explain. Itachi's guess was close enough. He had not locked onto the kunai, but directly onto the Flying Thunder God mark on Itachi himself.
After helping Itachi regain his balance, Jie spoke calmly.
"This fight is no longer something you can interfere with. Take Sasuke and the others farther away. The farther, the better."
"Once you're all gone, I can finally let loose."
Only then did Itachi remember Sasuke and the others. He had been too focused on Jie's safety to check on them.
He quickly looked back and let out a quiet breath of relief. Naruto had already released a Tailed Beast cloak. The red chakra wrapped around his limbs as he dug his claws into the ground with all his strength.
Sasuke and Hinata were clinging tightly to Naruto. The scene looked a little strange, but at least they had managed to hold on against Chibaku Tensei's pull.
Still, Naruto's face was already red from the strain. He clearly would not last much longer.
Itachi nodded at once and rushed toward the three children. He grabbed them and quickly retreated into the distance.
Jie turned back and looked calmly at the Deva Path Pain.
"So Itachi Uchiha really was Konoha's spy. I underestimated how well Konoha ninja could act."
Pain's voice was calm.
Jie smiled faintly. "There are plenty of things you don't know."
Nagato was nothing more than a confused fool. His whole life had been arranged by someone else.
From the moment he was born, Madara Uchiha had chosen him as the vessel for the Rinnegan. Madara used Nagato's chakra to nurture those eyes, and at the same time, Nagato was meant to become the person who would cast the Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique.
In other words, he was a sacrifice prepared for Madara's resurrection.
Later, Nagato founded Akatsuki with Yahiko, only to be tricked by Danzo and lose Yahiko because of it. After that, he was tricked again by Obito, who was pretending to be Madara.
Nagato truly believed that once he revived the Ten-Tails as a weapon, the shinobi world would finally know peace. But in the end, it was all part of Obito's scheme.
His whole life had been spent inside other people's traps. Honestly, Nagato was a pretty miserable man.
But pity was pity. Since he had provoked Jie, he could only blame himself for what came next.
Jie looked at the huge Gedo Statue, then at the ever-growing Chibaku Tensei in the sky. A faint smile appeared on his face.
If Nagato thought Chibaku Tensei gave him a chance, then Jie would crush that hope first.
Crimson-gold chakra surged from his body. In just a few seconds, Susanoo's third form appeared in front of Pain.
After absorbing half of Kumogakure, Chibaku Tensei had already grown far too large. Ordinary swordsmanship was no longer enough to destroy it completely.
So Jie simply activated Susanoo. He would break Chibaku Tensei in a single strike.
And at the same time, he would show Nagato what true godly power looked like.
"Susanoo: All-Cutting Blade!"
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